A greedy oil man named McNeil (Sebastian Cabot) is forcing all of the people living on several acres of land outside of a small Texas town to move as he knows there is oil under the ground.
He enforces this with his hired gun Crale (Ned Young) who is as cold blooded as any villian on the movie screen. Crale kills an elderly man named Hanson and a young Mexican man and his son witness it, but never say a word out of fear.
Before long a man named George Hansen (Sterling Hayden) arrives in Prairie City, Texas asking for his father only to find he has been killed. George decides to stick around and find out what happened. George is a Swedish fisherman and unaccustomed to the ways of Americans.
George gets nowhere in his investigation as everyone seems either scared of just plain lying. Soon however he discovers the truth, but only after Crale has killed Jose Mirada (Victor Millan) who was a witness to the original muder.
The scene when Crle murders Jose is extremely tense and very well done. The final showdown between George with his whaling hook and Crale is a very odd, but well done scene.
Director Lewis called it quits on the big screen after this film and worked mainly in TV. You can see all of the great Lewis elements that he used in other films used in this one as well.
If you like westerns you will want to check this one out...it's different, and it's damned good. The rest of the cast includes Carol Kelly, Eugene Mazzola, frank Ferguson, Byron Foulger, Hank Patterson and Tyler McVey.
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